Throw-in
Páirc Sean MacDiarmada, Saturday 26 May, 5.30pm
Online
Live blog on RTÉ.ie and the RTÉ News Now App from 1.30pm.
Radio
Live updates on Saturday Sport, RTÉ Radio 1, with Brian Carthy.
TV
Highlights of the game, along with all the weekend's action, on The Sunday Game, RTÉ 2, from 9.30pm.
Last 5 Championship Meetings
2017 Roscommon 2-23 Leitrim 1-9 (Connacht semi-final)
2016 Roscommon 1-21 Leitrim 0-11 (Connacht quarter-final)
2014 Roscommon 2-18 Leitrim 0-13 (Connacht quarter-final)
2011 Roscommon 2-12 Leitrim 0-6 (Connacht semi-final)
2010 Roscommon 1-13 Leitrim 0-11 (Connacht semi-final)
Form Guide
So what we have is a Division 4 team up against Divsion 1 opposition in this semi-final in Carrick-on-Shannon. The Rossies well and truly have the upper hand over their neighbours in recent times and you have to go back to 2000 for the last time Leitrim sprung a shock in this fixture.
If memory serves me right, the then Rooscommon manager Gay Sheerin was somewhat ashen-faced as he tried to make sense of the loss all of 18 years ago. This is the same Gay Sheerin who said last year that he did not like to see Mayo men managing Roscommon as the team's form dipped in the 2017 league.
A few months later, the Rossies were Connacht champions and then came close to defeating Mayo in the drawn All-Ireland quarter-final. The Mayo men - Kevin McStay and Liam McHale - could look back on a reasonable summer.
And so to this year and the aforementioned guided the Rossies back to the top flight in the league. The provincial draw saw them avoid Galway and Mayo and barring a huge upset, another final date awaits the Primrose and Blue on 17 June.
As for Leitrim, many were predicting their demise in the Big Apple at the start of this month, but they hit four points in the final five minutes of extra-time, including two in a minute of added time at the end of the second period, to beat the hosts by the minimum at Gaelic Park.
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Roscommon have beaten Leitrim by an average of over 12 points in their last four championship meetings and are going for their eighth successive win in Connacht over their neighbours.
Kevin McStay is in his third season as Roscommon manager while Brendan Guckian is in his second season with Leitrim.
Rossies should have lofty ambitions
It wasn't that long ago that Roscommon football was in turmoil, There was that incident in a pool room in Derry, John Maughan's departure as manager and life in Division 4. The outlook is a lot brighter now with a Connacht title from 2017 and a return to the league's top tier for 2019.
Reaching the Super 8 is certainly well within the grasp of McStay's troops and it's what the Rossies' fans will expect of the side in the coming weeks. Championship football then maybe against a Dublin, a Donegal or Monaghan at Hyde Park in the height of summer?
Before that there is a determination to do a Connacht back-to-back after the delight of last summer's emphatic win over Galway.
"We were delighted with the way the campaign went last year," selector Ger Dowd told RTÉ Sport.
"It was great to turn the tables on Galway in Pearse Stadium. We were very proud of that.
"It is something Roscommon haven't done in a long long time is to try and retain it and go back-to-back. That's something we're looking at and hoping to achieve. It's one of our aims.
"Obviously, all the talk was about Mayo and Galway and 'the big two' as people see it, but we like to think that we will have something to say in that argument as the season goes on too.
"But at the moment we can only focus on Leitrim and that's the way it is. That is our only focus, the first-round game."
On what to expect on the field of play, Dowd added: "We're trying to play attractive football. We don't want to be too defensive and we want to try and play football like we think we can.
"We are not the biggest side in the world yet we feel we are quite skillful and that's the type of game we want to play."
Team News
Leitrim show one change from the side that defeated New York. Dean McGovern comes in at midfield in place of Domhnaill Flynn.
Leitrim: Diarmuid McKiernan; Paddy Maguire, Micheál McWeeney, Oisin Madden; James Rooney, Donal Wrynn, Shane Quinn; Mark Plunkett, Dean McGovern; Jack Heslin, Emlyn Mulligan, Ryan O'Rourke; Darragh Rooney, Keith Beirne, Brendan Gallagher.
Kevin McStay has made five changes to the Roscommon side that defeated Cavan in the Division 2 final.
Colm Lavin gets the nod in goal ahead of James Featherston, defenders Niall McInerney and John McManus come into the full-back and half-back lines respectively, while half-forwards Enda Smith and Fintan Cregg are also named to start in Páirc Sean Mac Diarmada.
Roscommon: Colm Lavin; David Murray, Peter Domican, Niall McInerney; John McManus, Brian Stack, Conor Devaney; Cathal Compton, Tadgh O'Rourke; Enda Smith, Niall Kilroy, Fintan Cregg; Donie Smith, Diarmuid Murtagh, Ciaran Murtagh
Tomas Ó Sé's Verdict
"Leitrim deserve credit for winning a match they looked like losing in New York but Roscommon have eyes on winning Connacht and maybe more than that and that’s the key thing here."
Weather
In the afternoon and evening, showers or longer spells of rain will move into the Southeast and South turning heavy and possibly thundery and some spot flooding is possible. Highest temperatures will range 17 to 23 degrees Celsius. For more go to met.ie.
